Treating Organizational History as an Old Friend
Organization history can act like an old friend or jilted lover. It depends on how you treat her.
The secret is to understand the nuances of the organization’s history including what’s sacred and what’s not, then respecting the sacred even if it’s detrimental to the organization. If it is detrimental then change it. But work to preserve what’s good while only changing what needs changing.
When SpringHill has approached its organizational history in this way the results have been honoring to its history as well as moved the organization forward. Our New Frontiers Dining Hall at our Michigan overnight camp is a good example.
About 10 years ago we outgrew this Dining Hall. But because it’s the first major building built at SpringHill it’s full of history. For example there’s a miracle story about the beams and another about committed volunteers who made the very cool lighting fixtures.
Then there’s the fireplace. It’s sacred ground because it’s the spot where, over the years, 100’s of camp speakers stood as they shared their messages. As a result 1000’s of people had life transformational experiences as they looked upon that fireplace.
This meant tearing down the Dining Hall was not an option even if the cost of expanding and renovating was the same as building new. Instead we added to, renovated and built around the sacred parts of the building, designing it to feel and look like an updated version of the original.
The result is we have a building that does two important things. First it preserves our history and allows us to continue to tell the important God stories which make up our past. Secondly we now have a Dining Hall that serves both our needs and most importantly the needs of our campers and guests.
Submitting to the Mission
I’m reading Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen’s new book Great by Choice where, for illustrative purposes, they compare the leadership styles of the two Antarctic explorers, the well-known Robert Scott and the lesser known Roald Amundsen, who raced each other to the South Pole. In particular, Collins and Hansen references Roland Huntford’s fantastic book The Last Place on Earth – Scott and Amundsen’s Race to the South Pole.
I read The Last Place on Earth in 2009 and immediately appreciated it as both an important historic account as well as a great study in leadership. It combines the two types of books I love to read – history books and in particular biographies of historic characters and books about real life adventure. The Last Place on Earth takes a historic look at one of the great adventures of all time – the story of the two men who raced to be the first to reach the South Pole.
I won’t repeat Collins and Hansen’s leadership lessons (you can read their book) but instead share one leadership observation and one conclusion I drew from The Last Place on Earth.
The observation – Scott ended up being the more celebrated of the two explorers though he failed in his mission which ended in his and his team’s death while Amundsen, the first man to the South Pole, is largely unknown outside of historical and exploration circles.
The conclusion – if a leader submits all, including their own personal ambitions and recognition, to the fulfillment of the team’s mission they’re more likely to be successful. At the same time they’re more likely to be unknown or forgotten because they made accomplishing the mission look easy while doing it with less drama than those who failed.
The Tension between Unlimited Wants & Limited Resources
One of the first things I learned in my introduction to economics class back at Central Michigan University was that economics is best described as the tension between “unlimited wants and limited resources.”
This perfectly describes the tension we experience at SpringHill every fall as we finish our upcoming year’s financial plan, or what we affectionately call “the budget.” It’s an “all hands on deck” (or should I say “all brains on deck”) activity because of the importance we place on the entire team’s input and ultimate ownership of the financial plan. It tends to be a time where everyone’s brain hurts and passions (and frustrations?) run high.
But for us the financial plan’s actually the final step in the development of what we call our annual ministry plan for it’s the anticipated financial outcome of that plan. Our ministry plan includes; which SpringHill Experiences (SHX) we’ll offer to whom, where we’ll offer these SHX’s, and the anticipated number of participants. We also work out the details of everything we’ll need to carry out these SHX’s including capital investment and staffing. Finally we align this plan with our 5 year strategic plan to assure we’re headed in the right direction and accomplishing our long-term goals.
We dream big for God which results in big plans early in the process. Then we begin to put dollars and cents to these plans and the tension begins to rise because our dreams are always unlimited but, we discover, God generally gives us limited resources. Over the years I’ve become convinced that God does this so that our big plans become His plans.
And in the end that’s our desire – that our plans will be God’s plans because we want the results and the glory to be all His.
Qualities of Trustworthy Youth Organizations
Denise and I hold two important, but at times conflicting, goals in raising our children. The first one’s simply to assure our kids have experiences that help them grow physically, emotionally, socially, intellectually and spiritually. Secondly, we want to do all we can to keep our kids safe and to protect them from the consequences of evil.
It’s when we need to entrust our children and their safety to those who provide them life transforming experiences that we can feel conflicted. We want to provide our children these experiences and at the same time assure their safety.
The best way to achieve both is to verify that the organizations we entrust our children to have the following three qualities.
Transparency
The organization and its staff are transparent. Transparency mean’s there’s nothing hidden about its history, operations, philosophies, track record and methods. Transparency also includes our child’s experience.
Accessibility
Related to transparency is accessibility. Organizations and staff are accessible to parents. In addition, if necessary, our kids are accessible when involved with the organization. We should expect our phone calls and emails to be returned timely as well as the opportunity to meet the staff when dropping off and picking up our child as well as any other time we want to interact with them.
Professionalism
Professionalism includes a broad range of key activities that we should expect from an organization and its staff including verifiable training, quality control, safety practices and policies that the staff know and demonstrate commitment to by their adherence to these policies.
These three qualities should permeate the entire culture of an organization as reflected in the staff, websites, promotional material and most importantly in their reputation.
With prayerful due diligence, we as parents, can reduce the possibility of any harm coming to our children and yet still provide them those formative experiences they so desperately need to reach their potential.
The Penn State Tragedy and My Heart Breaking Twice
I’ve been hesitant to write this blog. But I can’t escape the need to address one of the unspoken consequences of the sad and tragic story of alleged sexual abuse of young boys by a former Penn State assistant football coach.
First, let me say, that if the alleged charges prove to be true then the worst consequences, by far, are the effects of these evil acts on the lives of these young men. There’s nothing worse.
Yet there’s another consequence that also breaks my heart every time a situation like this comes to light.
It’s the consequence that every organization committed to serving children will have a growing black cloud hanging over it. This black cloud’s the mistrust of parents of all organizations that serve kids because of the tragic and broken trust by one unrelated person or organization. That black cloud can especially become a reality for organizations, such as camps, to whom parents temporarily entrust the care and safety of their children.
And when parents, out of fear and mistrust, begin to exclude their kids from experiences , such as Christian camps, that can help their children grow physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually then the ripple effect of evil continues . In a world where children need every advantage, every opportunity to grow, every chance to become all that God’s created them to be – to see organizations committed to these goals lose the opportunity to serve kids and their families – breaks my heart all over again.
In my next post I’ll outline some of the characteristics parents should look for in an organization they’re considering entrusting the temporary care and safety of their children to.
For another take on the impact of the Penn State situation on youth ministry read my friend Jeff Munroe’s blog by clicking here.
My Pastor Day
Terry Prisk 
Steve Andrews 
Eric Russ and family My wife Denise called Tuesday my “pastor day” because I had the opportunity to hang out in metro Detroit with three dear friends who are also inspiring pastors and incredible leaders – Terry Prisk, Steve Andrews and Eric Russ.
My first stop was with Terry Prisk, a long time SpringHill partner and leader of The River Community Church. Terry and I meet every few months to share, challenge and encourage each other in our respected leadership positions. As usually happens we exchanged books we’re each reading knowing we’ll discuss their respected contents the next time we’re together.
Next I had the opportunity to have coffee with Steve Andrews from Kensington Community Church. Steve’s a former SpringHill board member and current member of our strategic planning team. In these roles, as he did once again in our time together, Steve’s spoken into my life by challenging me to think big about SpringHill and its place in God’s Kingdom.
I ended my day near downtown Detroit with Eric Russ, a current SpringHill board member, who leads Mack Avenue Community Church. Eric and I spent our time together riding in the “Mack Truck”, an old pickup truck used by the church. We toured the neighborhood where his church ministers. I’m inspired every time I’m with Eric but never more than when I see the community, people and work he’s committed his life too.
As I drove home from Detroit I thought to myself “what a great day”. I also thanked God for each of these men and the significant impact they’ve made on both SpringHill and on me. In my final thought of the day I searched for answers to this question “how can SpringHill and I better support them and their churches in the incredibly important work they do in the communities they serve?”
Why Do You Spend Your Precious Time…?
Yesterday we had one of our three yearly “all staff” meetings which follow each of our three “seasons”. Our agenda’s consistent for each meeting – we review the results of the completed season as well as the anticipated results of the upcoming season and year.
It’s an opportunity to celebrate and pray together as well as ask questions, make suggestions and assure we’re aligned as a team.
We want these meetings to be fun, informative, causal, real and helpful in achieving our goals. We speak frankly and with full transparency about how we’re performing and what’s needed in the months and years to come.
At the end of this particular meeting, as a first in many discussions related to the task of re-articulating SpringHill’s vision statement, I asked our staff to begin to think, reflect and pray about the following three questions (taken from What to Ask the Person in the Mirror by Robert Steven Kaplan –see my 10/23/2011 post) .
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What do we (you) hope SpringHill will achieve in the years ahead?
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What’s special about SpringHill?
- Why do you spend your precious time and energy working for SpringHill?
Over the next several months the answers to these questions will become key inputs into our vision re-articulation.
But today I asked our team for some impromptu answers. Their responses were moving, inspiring, stunning and made me proud to be on this team.
Here are just three of many answers (paraphrased) to question 3 our staff shared:
“I’m able to fulfill God’s calling in my life of creating cool and inspiring environments that God can use to transform lives.”
“God changed my life when I was a SpringHill camper, now I can help create the same life transforming experiences for other people.”
We have a great start to this important task of brining new clarity to the SpringHill vision.
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Keeping Your Eye on the Ball
I grew up playing baseball, basketball and football (in which for many years I was a receiver). One of the most common instructions I’d heard from my coaches, regardless of the sport, was “Perry, keep your eye on the ball.” This meant, whether playing third base or wide receiver, to focus entirely on the ball until I had it completely in my control.This instruction, on the surface, seems to be easy enough to follow, except for that linebacker ready to put a hit on me the moment I touch the ball, or the man on second base waiting to advance to third as soon as I made a throw to first. Then what became easy was to “take my eye of the ball” and try to see, at the same time, more than just that ball coming my way. When I did this it almost always led to me missing that ball and still getting hit or the guy still advancing to third.
Keeping my eye on the ball required discipline, focus and courage. It’s probably why I heard so often my coaches yell “Perry, keep your eye on the ball” and why it’s now burned forever into my consciousness.
Looking back I’m thankful for my coaches’ consistent instruction and the fact that their words continue to be front of mind now that the “sports” I’m participating in have changed and become more significant. Mishandling the ball, be it SpringHill’s mission, vision and values, the stewardship of my health, my role as father and husband or my relationship with Christ, has significantly more serious consequences than that ground ball that went through my legs.
And it requires even more discipline, focus and courage, three qualities I continue to ask God to provide so I will never take my eye off these important balls.
Drawing Our Mission
Mission statements are normally expressed in words. But yesterday I had the opportunity to articulate SpringHill’s mission through a drawing supplemented by words not used in our actual statement.
As you can see from the photo I’m no artist but my lack of talent didn’t diminish the power of this exercise. The power came in the challenge of thinking through how to communicate our mission in a drawing as opposed to the words of our statement. This 20 minute process provided me a different perspective on a mission we’ve had for decades.
During the act of illustrating I began to see the role the SpringHill Experience plays in the life of a young person in a different way. Having a mission statement that’s often referred to and memorized can lead to a bit of staleness – illustrating it made it fresh again.
Which led me to, once again, affirm the importance of our mission and the need to assure its continuing effectiveness.
The exercise also provides an alternative way to communicate our mission to our key constituency groups by providing them with a fresh perspective as well.
So on my “list of ideas we need to do” from this week with the Chicago 7 (a peer learning group of CEO’s from similar camps) I’ve added “#15. Have our marketing team create a quality illustration of our mission.”
By the way our peer learning group’s meeting this week’s at the very cool The Leadership Studio at Muskoka Woods in Ontario Canada. It’s CEO and a close friend, John McAuley, is a part of our group and facilitating our time together. If you and your organization need a place for a retreat where you can do some great work you need to check out The Leadership Studio. I guarantee you’ll come back with more than just a drawing of your mission statement.
Being a Higher Purpose Organization
Photo by my friend Mike Smith Working for SpringHill, a not-for-profit organization committed “to creating life transforming experiences where young people can know and grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ” can be heady stuff. It’s easy to believe that there’s no higher purpose than our mission.
Yet over the last couple of years I’ve been challenged with the question “is our mission ultimately our highest calling or does SpringHill have yet a higher purpose?
An article by Russell Eisenstat and Tobias Fredberg of the TruePoint Center for Higher Ambition convinced me that SpringHill should have a larger purpose. So I’ve modified slightly Eisenstat and Fredberg’s language and began to think in terms of SpringHill being a “higher purpose organization.”
What does “higher purpose” mean? It means SpringHill’s called to make a larger impact in the world than it can do on its own by being a significant part of a world-changing movement.
By implications this means that the movement’s larger, more significant and enduring than SpringHill itself. Now it’s easy for SpringHill to understand its connection to the higher purpose of Christ and His Kingdom. But the deeper and more tangible question centers on understanding “what’s Christ’s unique higher purpose for SpringHill and how does it fit into His Kingdom?”
I don’t have the answer yet (to find the answer’s an act of discovery) but I have some preliminary thoughts on our higher purpose.
I believe it will involve the spiritual growth of all kids and that we’ll enable others to serve kids better. Finally our higher purpose may center on being an organizational role model that helps other not-for-profit’s be more effective in their work.
So please share your thoughts and insights into what you believe SpringHill’s “higher purpose” might be. I’d love your input.
